Spanish Words Become Our Own

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By Gerald Erichsen, About.com Guide

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machete

machismo

macho (macho usually means simply "male" in Spanish)

maize (from maíz, originally from Arawak mahíz)

manatee (from manatí, originally from Carib)

mano a mano (literally, "hand to hand")

margarita (a woman's name meaning "daisy")

mariachi (a type of traditional Mexican music, or a musician)

matador (literally, "killer")

marijuana (usually mariguana or marihuana in Spanish)

mesa (In Spanish it means "table," but it also can mean "tableland," the English meaning.)

menudo (Mexican food)

mesquite (tree name originally from Nahuatl mizquitl)

mestizo (a type of mixed ancestry)

mole (Unfortunately, the name for this delightful chocolate-chili dish is sometimes misspelled as "molé" in English in an attempt to prevent mispronunciation.)

mosquito

mulatto (from mulato)

mustang (from mestengo, "stray")

nacho

nada (nothing)

negro (comes from either the Spanish or Portuguese word for the color black)

nopal (type of cactus, from Nahuatl nohpalli)

ocelot (originally Nahuatl oceletl; the word was adopted into Spanish and then French before becoming an English word)

olé (in Spanish, the exclamation can be used in places other than bullfights)

oregano (from orégano)

paella (a savory Spanish rice dish)

palomino (originally meant a white dove in Spanish)

papaya (originally Arawak)

patio (In Spanish, the word most often refers to a courtyard.)

peccadillo (from pecadillo, diminutive of pecado, "sin")

peso (Although in Spanish a peso is also a monetary unit, it more generally means a weight.)

peyote (originally Nahuatl peyotl)

picaresque (from picaresco)

pickaninny (offensive term, from pequeño, "small")

pimento (Spanish pimiento)

pinole (a meal made of grain and beans; originally Nahuatl pinolli)

pinta (tropical skin disease)

pinto (Spanish for "spotted" or "painted")

piñata

piña colada (literally meaning "strained pineapple")

piñon (type of pine tree, sometimes spelled "pinyon")

plantain (from plátano or plántano)

plaza

poncho (Spanish adopted the word from Araucanian, an indigenous South American language)

potato (from batata, a word of Caribbean origin)

pronto (from an adjective or adverb meaning "quick" or "quickly")

pueblo (in Spanish, the word can mean simply "people")

punctilio (from puntillo, "little point," or possibly from Italian puntiglio)

puma (originally from Quechua)

quadroon (from cuaterón)

quesadilla

quirt (type of riding whip, comes from Spanish cuarta)

ranch (Rancho often means "ranch" in Mexican Spanish, but it can also mean a settlement, camp or meal rations.)

reefer (drug slang, possibly from Mexican Spanish grifa, "marijuana")

remuda (regionalism for a relay of horses)

renegade (from renegado)

rodeo

rumba (from rumbo, originally referring to the course of a ship and, by extension, the revelry aboard)

salsa (In Spanish, almost any kind of a sauce or gravy can be referred to as salsa.)

sarsaparilla (from zarza, "bramble," and parilla, "small vine")

sassafras (from sasafrás)

savanna (from obsolete Spanish çavana, originally Taino zabana, "grassland")

savvy (from sabe, a form of the verb saber, "to know")

serape (Mexican blanket)

serrano (type of pepper)

shack (possibly from Mexican Spanish jacal, from the Nahuatl xcalli, "adobe hut")

siesta

silo

sombrero (In Spanish, the word, which is derived from sombra, "shade," can mean almost any kind of hat, not just the traditional broad-rimmed Mexican hat.)

spaniel (ultimately from hispania, the same root that gave us the words "Spain" and español)

stampede (from estampida)

stevedore (from estibador, one who stows or packs things)

stockade (from a French derivation of the Spanish estacada, "fence" or "stockade")

Grammar Glossary

Gerald Erichsen
Spanish Language Guide

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Spanish Words Become Our Own

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Grammar Glossary